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Maize ban faces legal showdown

20 September 1997

By Debora MacKenzie

Brussels

AUSTRIA is planning to take the European Commission to court in a last-ditch
attempt to defend its ban on the import of a genetically modified maize.

The Commission decided last week that Austria, Luxembourg and Italy must lift
their bans on the maize, which contains genes for an insecticide called Bt
toxin. It also includes genes that confer resistance to glufosinate, a
weedkiller, and ampicillin, a common antibiotic. The last gene was introduced as
a marker for the presence of the other two.

The modified maize, developed by the Swiss-based multinational Novartis, was
approved for sale in the European Union in February, but the three countries
banned it. Under EU rules, they were allowed three months to prove that the
maize posed a risk to human health or the environment. Austria claims it could
cause increased resistance to ampicillin in humans, and to Bt among insect
pests.

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The Commission’s scientific committees on food, pesticides and animal
nutrition have now rejected that opinion. The other 12 member states are
expected to approve the decision. The Commission says it will try to address
Austria’s concerns by launching a monitoring programme for Bt resistance. Italy
and Luxembourg have yet to give their reaction.

A spokeswoman for the Austrian government says the country will do “everything
we can” to keep the ban, including bringing the case to the European Court of
Justice. Last April, 20 per cent of Austrian voters signed a petition to keep
genetically modified crops out of Austria.